| Summary: | Several fishes of the halfbeak genus Hyporhamphus occumng in the Mexican Gulf of Mexico
and Caribbean Sea have been misidentified or confused in the literature. Most of it has centered around the
taxonomic status of H. unifasciatus (including its synonym H. roberti), which is shown to comprise a complex
of three species, H. unifasciatus, the recently described H. meeki, from the western Atlantic region, and an
undescribed species from the eastern Pacific Ocean. Another eastern Mexico halfbeak is the freshwater form
H. mexicanus. Using Banford and Collette (1993), we examined specimens from collections at UANL,
UNAM, IPN, and ECOCH and have clarified the Mexican distribution of these species. We here report
additional Mexican records of H. meeki, previously known only from United States waters and from the coast
of Yucathn, clarify the distribution of H. unifasciatus, and provide the first marine record of the freshwater
species H. mexicanus. A distribution map and keys for identification of the eastern Mexican species are
provided.
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